


Obi-Wan, Ben, and the AU

by virdant



Series: Fandom Racism Essays [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Language, Meta, Racism, fandom racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: Or: Whitewashing East Asian Influence in Star Wars Fandom--
Series: Fandom Racism Essays [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087187
Comments: 31
Kudos: 154





	Obi-Wan, Ben, and the AU

**Author's Note:**

> You wrote one essay, Ri, you must be satisfied. Fandom is learning and growing, right? You can go back to working on your professional projects!
> 
> Well, I hate to break it to you...

As an avid peruser of the Obi-Wan Kenobi tag on AO3 (as in, I refresh it at least three times a day), I start to notice some patterns. Our brains are, after all, hardwired to identify patterns, and while I have been blessed (or cursed) with the inability to recognize faces, I have developed a fairly solid ability to recognize patterns within text. And one thing I noticed, as I skimmed through fics, was a perpetual urge to call Obi-Wan Kenobi as Ben, especially in Modern AU contexts.

Huh, I thought, mind churning away as it always does. That’s a strange pattern. I wonder why.

I didn’t spend that much time wondering. It was, after all, fairly clear. Obi-Wan Kenobi has always been a character steeped in East-Asian inspiration, and despite the existence of white-passing mixed race individuals and Eurasians who look white while being of Asian culture, Fandom had decided, once again, to erase the East-Asian influence in favor for whitewashing, justifying their decision by setting white actors on a pedestal.

Well, I thought, reflecting on my experience in Star Wars Fandom. That’s unsurprising.

## Obi-Wan Kenobi, and East Asia

When George Lucas created Star Wars, he was heavily inspired by East Asian media. He has cited being inspired by Kurosawa and other samurai films for Star Wars. He has gone on record with stating that he originally wanted Obi-Wan Kenobi to be played by Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. The Force holds many parallels to the Chinese concept of Qi (or Chi). The Jedi are heavily inspired by Buddhism, no doubt as a part of his own foray into that philosophy and religion.

We cannot divorce Star Wars from its East Asian influence. Though I am sure that many people have tried and will continue to try, East Asian philosophy and culture is steeped into the very concepts that make up our understanding of Star Wars. And one way that the East-Asian influence is shown is in the naming of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was conceived of as a Martial Arts master, a role intended to be played by a Japanese man. It is a character that was meant to evoke a wizened Asian man of wisdom, as typical for films of that era. And, if played by Mifune, Obi-Wan Kenobi no doubt would have leaned more into those stereotypes via direction and fan perception.

We can see these influences not just in Obi-Wan’s behavior, but also in his name. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s name is vastly different from the majority of other character names in the Original Trilogy. His name draws strongly from East-Asian languages such as Japanese consonant-vowel patterns. His first name, Obi-Wan, bears remarkable similarity to Chinese given names, which often consist of short one-vowel characters connected with a hyphen. Obi-Wan Kenobi is not a Chinese or a Japanese name, but by design it evokes East-Asian language.

When you compare Obi-Wan Kenobi to other names of the Original Trilogy: Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Owen and Beru Lars, Han Solo, we begin to see that Obi-Wan Kenobi is distinct in its evocation of East-Asian influence. He is not given a typical western name such as Luke or Owen. His name is not an actual English word, such as Solo, or a combination of multiple English words, such as Skywalker. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a distinctly East-Asian inspired name to evoke the East-Asian culture that his character was inspired by.

## Ben, the Holocaust, and the Jewish Diaspora

George Lucas was not subtle in his allusions to the Holocaust and the Jewish Diaspora in Star Wars. When A New Hope was aired in 1977, the Holocaust was fresh in people’s memories, not even a generation removed. Lucas deliberately named Obi-Wan Kenobi “Ben,” a Jewish name to evoke a parallel. He continued this in future installments of Star Wars by naming other survivors of the Jedi genocide Jewish names.

The survivors of the Jedi genocide: Ben (meaning son), Caleb (meaning faithful, devoted, or brave), Cal (meaning devotion), Ezra (the name of a Jewish priest in the Hebrew bible), and even Kanan (which echoes canaan, the promised land and also the land of exile), carry Jewish names. In the case of Ben and Kanan, these are names chosen after the genocide, meaning there was no need, in-universe or out-of-universe, to connect the name to a culture of their birth or upbringing. 

Ben in Star Wars is a name meant to evoke the sentiment of being torn from your home, of losing your culture, and surviving a tragedy. It is a name that was chosen to reflect the tragedy of genocide and the power of survival. In Star Wars, Ben is not a randomly chosen name, but rather a name designed to reflect the struggles of a minority after a tragedy. Ben is not a generic white name, but rather a Jewish name, chosen to convey a message.

Lucas has never been a subtle writer. He was not subtle in his naming choices here. Lucas deliberately chose to give Obi-Wan Kenobi in exile a Jewish name, to reflect and evoke the tragedy that the Jewish people suffered during and after the Holocaust. When we refer to Obi-Wan Kenobi as Ben, it should not be to erase the culture that he came from, but as a reflection of his role as a survivor of a genocide.

## Obi-Wan and Scotland: Fandom Trends

There is a prevalent depiction of Obi-Wan in fanfiction, drawn heavily from his actor in the prequel trilogy: Ewan McGregor. Fandom has chosen, via osmosis, to view Obi-Wan as white. Not just in Modern AU settings, but also to expand within canon, there is a tendency to view Obi-Wan as Scottish, drawn almost entirely from aesthetics. Fandom has shown less of a tendency to draw from Sir Alec Guinness’ British heritage, instead choosing to focus on lifting Gaelic culture—sometimes specifically Scottish, other times a piecemeal selection—to shape Obi-Wan Kenobi’s character.

It leads to questions of why? Is it merely the power of an actor’s background? Yet we do not see Padme Amidala and Naboo culture being given distinctive American-Israeli traits despite her actress Natalie Portman’s background. Alderaan is not given a Puerto Rican background despite Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa’s actor) identifying as Puerto Rican. This phenomenon seems to occur most commonly around Obi-Wan Kenobi and the planet of his birth, Stewjon.

We are given very little information about Stewjon. We know that it is named after John Stewart after an interview where Lucas was asked about Obi-Wan’s birth planet and, after jokingly requesting it get named after him, Lucas obliged. From this, we can easily extrapolate that the planet of Obi-Wan’s birth was never intended to be a key aspect of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s character: his culture and identity was always meant to be tied to the Jedi, the culture he was adopted into.

And yet despite this, we see fandom choosing, more and more often, to focus on what this mysterious birth culture is. We have fandom spending time worldbuilding what it would entail, drawing almost entirely on Ewan McGregor’s own background to shape their understanding, instead of looking to the context clues we do have in canon: Obi-Wan Kenobi’s name. And, in situations where a Gaelic headcanon and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s distinctively East-Asian inspired name do not align, we see Obi-Wan Kenobi’s name being stripped away in favor of the more Western palatable Ben.

We have examples of other characters where we are given hints of their birth culture. We even have Jedi who embrace aspects of their birth culture, such as Luminara and Barriss, or Eeth Koth and Agen Kolar, all of whom have tattoos from their birth culture. We see Mirialans and Shaak Ti wear cultural garments. There are cultures that we are given hints of, yet very little fandom energy is spent devoted to expanding the Muslim-inspired culture that we see from the Mirialans, or the South-Asian inspired garments of Shaak Ti. Instead, fandom energies are concentrated on creating a Gaelic-inspired-aesthetic culture for Obi-Wan Kenobi. 

Fandom has chosen to dismiss what we know about Obi-Wan Kenobi’s birth culture—his name, and the culture that inspired that name—in favor of lifting a culture purely for aesthetic reasons. Ewan McGregor does not bring his Scottish accent into his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He does not wear Scottish-inspired clothing. He does not utilize Scottish culture as part of his understanding of the character. Yet Fandom has chosen to focus on Scottish culture instead of what we are given of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s birth culture. Fandom has chosen to focus on Scottish culture instead of what we are given of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s upbringing: the East-Asian inspired Jedi culture.

In Modern AU situations, Obi-Wan is often depicted as Scottish, though there is rarely any attempt to explain why a Scottish family would be named Kenobi, or why they would name their son Obi-Wan. In some cases, Obi-Wan is renamed as Ben, given that the name is a relatively common on in English-speaking countries. However, despite being renamed as Ben, he often isn’t depicted as Jewish. Instead, it is assumed that his Scottish family, of surname Kenobi, named him Ben, a common Jewish name. 

The question arises is why? Why has fandom decided to dismiss everything we know about Obi-Wan Kenobi as a character in favor of a headcanon based off of an actor’s appearance?

## Obi-Wan Kenobi, Fandom, and Projection

As a main character, Obi-Wan Kenobi inevitably becomes a character that we both relate to and project ourselves onto. It’s normal for creators to resonate with specific characters, and it’s even more common in Fandom spaces, which tend to encourage such relationships via Stan and Kin terminology. Obi-Wan is an appealing character: he experiences tragedy, yet he perseveres through it. He continuously shows strong fortitude in the midst of adversity. He is patient and kind. And, of course, he played by Ewan McGregor, who is an attractive man.

It is easy for fandom creators to relate to Obi-Wan Kenobi. For those who look for a vehicle to write about comfort, Obi-Wan with his history of infinite sadness provides an easy character to write whump and angst. For those who look for a character of mild temperament and success, Obi-Wan’s ability to rise above adversity provides an easy option. He is a complex character, and as a result, it is easy to tweeze out different facets of his personality when writing a story.

Most of the people who are choosing to devote time and energy to developing Obi-Wan’s background and character are people who enjoy Obi-Wan Kenobi as a character. They are people who resonate with his character, with his personality. And, as a result, they want to see more of him, to know more about his character. People are choosing to develop Obi-Wan because they like his character.

So what does it mean to add whiteness to a character who is depicted as culturally East-Asian? What does it mean that people are adding whiteness: and claiming it as an act of love?

## Racism and Whitewashing

In 2018, _Crazy Rich Asians_ came out. And with it, came stories of its difficult journey to the screen. In multiple interviews, the creators, producers, and directors all told stories of how much effort they put into creating a cast of East-Asian actors and actresses. One story came out of the character of Rachel, the Chinese-American protagonist who travels back to Singapore with her boyfriend. Producers asked them to rewrite and cast Rachel as white: so she would be more relatable.

The topic of relatability comes up very often when discussing people of color in fictional media. Often, it’s used to justify whitewashing, to explain a reluctance to cast POC in various roles. There is an assumption in the western world that the default human is White and cis and straight and male. It is white supremacy; it is the thought that white people, white cultures, white mindsets are default. It is the assumption that everybody can relate to white men, but other identities: people of color, transgender people, queer people, and even women, are somehow foreign and unrelatable. 

When we look at fandom reluctance to portray cultures of color, the parallels grow eerily similar. With regard to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s background, fandom perpetually deems his Jedi heritage—inspired by East Asian culture and Buddhist tenants—as strange and foreign, misinterpreting it. Instead, Fandom chooses to replace his heritage with Scottish heritage, a White heritage, as if that would make him more relatable and understandable. It leads to the question of why is Obi-Wan Kenobi given a White heritage as an act of affection for his character? 

As fancreators, it is inevitable that we create content that we relate to. Especially in cases of fanfiction and fanart, where it’s done as an act of love instead of for money, fancreators gravitate towards telling stories and drawing art that resonates with them. So, with this extrapolation, a question arises: why do fancreators resonate so much more with White culture than East-Asian culture or Jewish culture to the point of cultural erasure in favor of whitewashing?

The answer is racism.

In the same way that investors and producers deemed a story about a Chinese-American woman travelling back to Singapore unrelatable, fancreators—subconsciously or consciously—have deemed both East-Asian culture and Jewish culture as foreign and unrelatable to themselves. They have decided that it is better to lift aspects of Gaelic culture piecemeal than to explore the aspects of East-Asian and Jewish influence provided by canon. They have deemed a white culture more interesting and more relatable than minority cultures.

Yet despite their interest and fascination with Gaelic culture, fancreators draw piecemeal from it, lifting aspects of it for aesthetic and incorporating it without thorough research. Aspects of the culture, from clothing to language, are taken for worldbuilding, and other aspects—presumably those deemed less relatable—are dismissed. And consumers of the content praise this roughshod treatment of a culture that has historically been discriminated against. From mixing and matching different Gaelic cultures, to lifting aspects of its clothing and language solely for aesthetic purposes, a rich and diverse culture is sanitized to make palatable to a general audience. It is a decision that centers worldbuilding around a specific concept of what is culture.

There is nothing about a culture that makes it inherently more right. There is nothing about a culture that makes it inherently more interesting or relatable. To decide this, subconsciously or consciously, is an act of racism. It is upholding white supremacy by centering one’s worldview on a white culture to the point of dismissing minority cultures.

## Obi-Wan and Ben: Renaming an Asian-coded Name

I was browsing the Obi-Wan Kenobi tag for the umpteenth time when I came across a fic that not only referred to Obi-Wan as “Ben” but also chose to change his last name away from Kenobi to a more “palatable” White surname.

I experienced a series of emotions in a short amount of time, ranging from disbelief, frustration, fury, and finally exhaustion. I couldn’t even find enough energy to be angry anymore, because I was so used to seeing Obi-Wan’s name changed to the more western “Ben”. Of course, I thought. What was the next step after changing an East-Asian inspired name to a more western first name? Of course, the second step was to change his surname.

There is an uncomfortable parallel when it comes to addressing Obi-Wan as Ben. Asian people often take western names when the immigrate to America, due to racism. Statistics show that western names are viewed more favorably when it comes to job applications and college admissions. There remains, in western society, a tendency to favor western names over Asian ones. And this parallel is increasingly uncomfortable when taking into consideration how Fandom chooses to whitewash East-Asian characteristics as an act of love.

Obi-Wan cannot be specifically assigned to any East-Asian language: it remains very much within the realm of speculative fiction. And, within our world, we have many examples of children being given names inspired by different languages, ranging from children being given French-inspired names or even Gaelic-inspired names. Yet despite this being a common circumstance in the real world, we still see a prevalent trend of renaming Obi-Wan to Ben in modern AU contexts.

The decision echoes decisions to whitewash East-Asian culture in the name of relatability and affection. Fancreators choosing to use Ben over Obi-Wan are echoing the racist society that deems Western names more favorable. 

I am not the only Asian-American to have a western first name, given to me in order to ease my assimilation into a racist society. There are many others who came before me, who came after me, and who will continue to come. But the decision comes from living in a society that prioritizes white culture and white supremacy. I live every day with both gratitude and grief: that in a country and a society that claims to celebrate diversity, it was deemed necessary for me to grow up with a western name. And I look at this fandom trend with grief: that even in an online realm of escapism, we live in a world that prioritizes white supremacy.

## Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor, and Sir Alec Guinness

A question inevitably arises every time this topic is brought up. How do you balance the East-Asian and Jewish cultural influences of Obi-Wan Kenobi with the two actors who portrayed him: Scottish Ewan McGregor and British Sir Alec Guinness? 

There are, of course, multiple trajectories that one can take. There is always the option of simply faceclaiming a different actor. One can make an argument for Toshiro Mifune, given that he was Lucas’ original choice for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Many fandoms faceclaim actors or models for specific characters. Harry Potter fandom often faceclaims Black characters for the character of Hermione Granger. 

Another option is to work with the existing actors’ appearances.

There are many white-passing mixed-race individuals in our society. Obi-Wan could be mixed-race, and thus of East-Asian heritage as well as having a White appearance. He could be raised by East-Asian grandparents, allowing him to grow up immersed in a Buddhist-inspired environment while still appearing White.

There are Two-Culture Kids who grow up in cultures different from their ancestors. Obi-Wan could have been the child of expats, living in East-Asia. He could have grown up immersed in East-Asian culture while looking like Ewan McGregor.

There are Eurasian people who look Caucasian but are culturally Asian. Obi-Wan could be of that background. There are people who grow up in cultures that is not their ancestors. Obi-Wan could be of that background. There is adoption. Obi-Wan could be of that background. And, if he is called Ben, he could have Jewish ancestry to acknowledge that aspect of his original character.

There are many options that a fancreator can take to embrace the canonical information we are given. There are many options that celebrate diversity. They may require more effort; they may require research done and a beta to check over the writing for sensitivity issues. But there are options to create a narrative that does not center around whiteness.

## Creating Diverse Content

A few years ago, the Asian diaspora community was in an uproar. A white woman had been cast to play the character of a Tibetan monk. Upon community protest, an announcement was made: the decision to whitewash the character, to eliminate a scant piece of East-Asian representation, was because they didn’t want to portray a stereotype. Instead of working to evolve and develop a strong character of color, they had taken the easy route: they had whitewashed the character. The actress was Tilda Swinton, and the character was the Ancient One in _Doctor Strange_.

The inevitable question in response to Disney’s decision to whitewash the Ancient One was: “Were you not capable of writing a nuanced character of color? In all of the changes you made to the original comics, was it not possible to take the time, money, and energy to write a thoughtful character of color?” 

They had chosen the easy route. Instead of taking the time to research and challenge the status quo, Disney had instead decided to whitewash the character. Instead of actually taking the time to conduct research and evolve an existing source material to live in the 21st century, Disney chose to erase a scrap of East-Asian representation.

As fancreators, we do not have the resources of multi-billion-dollar media companies. But nor are we beholden to a legion of investors demanding profit on their investment. As fancreators, we have the freedom to push against the status quo, to challenge previously held conceptions, to be _better_. Media has a history of taking trends in niche environments and making them mainstream. What better trend to make mainstream, than a trend that celebrates diversity, that shows that people are willing to consume and create content about people of color?

And as fancreators, what does it say about us that we follow in the footsteps of mainstream media, that we parrot the same rhetoric they do to justify their whitewashing? What does it say about us, that despite our freedom to create without investor pressure, we choose to continue down the path of whitewashing and racism? 

What does it say about us, that our definition of fun remains rooted in white supremacy?

**Author's Note:**

> As a note, I don't actually enjoy writing essays about racism. I actually find it extremely exhausting to exist in a space that perpetually celebrates white supremacy. When I come onto the internet, it is in part to escape from the world that thinks stabbing a 2 year child because they're asian and the coronavirus is scary is an okay thing to do. I don't actually like being bombarded with anti-asian sentiment non-stop. So, y'know, speak out about issues of racism, be the change you want to be in the world, etc. Here's to hoping 2021 is a less racist year!
> 
> \--
> 
> here's how you can find me:
> 
>   * asian jedi agenda, my writing discord (pls ask for link)
>   * Follow me on twitter [@virdant](http://www.twitter.com/virdant/)
>   * Comment and kudo below
> 



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